METAL/NONMETAL MINE FATALITY -
On January 21, 2013, a 54-year old mechanic with 6 years of experience was killed at a lime operation. The victim went to a kiln pre-heat deck to repair a leaking hydraulic cylinder that activates a pusher arm on the kiln. He was caught between the corner of the angle iron and the plate connecting the push rods.

Best Practices

Establish and discuss safe work procedures. Identify and control all hazards associated with the work to be performed along with the methods to properly protect persons.

Task train all persons to recognize all potential hazardous conditions and understand safe job procedures to eliminate all hazards before beginning work.

Before working on or near equipment, ensure that the equipment power circuits are locked out/tagged out and that the equipment is blocked against hazardous motion.

Require all persons to be positioned to prevent them from being exposed to any hazards.

Monitor personnel to ensure safe work procedures, including lock out/ tag out and safe work positioning, are followed.

Ensure guarding is in place to cover potential pinch points and moving parts in areas routinely accessed by personnel.

Submit your own suggestion for a remedy to prevent this type of accident in the future. Please specify if you wish your submission to be anonymous or whether your name may be used. Please include the year of the fatality and the fatality number.

This is the 2nd fatality reported in calendar year 2013 in the metal and nonmetal mining industries. As of this date in 2012, there were 0 fatalities reported in these industries. This is the 1stMachinery fatality in 2013. There were 0 Fall of Highwall fatalities in the same period in 2012.

The information provided in this notice is based on preliminary data ONLY and does not represent final determinations regarding the nature of the incident or conclusions regarding the cause of the fatality.